Venus and Jupiter Conjunction 8/18/14

The planets were less than one degree apart, with Venus being on the lower left. They will also get together (even closer) on June 30, 2015. Watch this space ;-)

That's Procyon upper right; alpha Canis Minoris. Tripod mounted Nikon D7000, Nikon 18-200mm lens at 26mm 1.10s f3.8 ISO 1600 at 6:17 a.m. Had to battle lens fogging, mosquitoes, and muggy conditions to get this one, but at least I didn't have to go far. Interesting facts about Procyon, at mag .34 it's the 8th brightest star and is only 11 light years away, making it one of our closest neighbors.

Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Saturn on April 29, 2002

(Aldebaran is the brightest star in Taurus, in response to a couple of questions!)

This was taken on a small hill, looking across a soccer field, at my daughter's old elementary school. About 4 seconds on Fuji 800 print film. Olympus OM2n, 50mm f1.8 lens wide open. Jupiter is out of the frame, above left. Hint: You need about a 35mm lens to be able to include Jupiter.

If you've looked this far, check out the links below for close-ups of the planets.